Two books in one: natural history and evolutionary theory

Evolutionary Ecology across Three Trophic Levels: Goldenrods, Gallmakers and Natural Enemies by W.G. Abrahamson and A.E. Weis Princeton University Press, Monographs in Population Biology, 1997. $29.95/￡24.95 hbk (xiii+456 pages) ISBN 0 691 01208 3.     

Induced responses to herbivory by R. Karban and I.T. Baldwin

The University of Chicago Press, 1997. $44.00/￡35.25 hbk, $17.95/￡14.25 pbk (x+320 pages) ISBN 0 226 42495 2/0 226 42496 0.     

Measuring richness and evenness

Surveying Natural Populations by L-A.C. Hayek and M.A. Buzas Columbia University Press, 1997. $69.00/￡48.00 hbk, $28.00/￡19.00 pbk (xvi+563 pages) ISBN 0 231 10240 2/0 231 10241 0.     

The origin of animal body plans: a study in evolutionary developmental biology, by w. Arthur, and cells, embryos and evolution, by j. Gerhart and m. Kirschner

Cambridge University Press, 1997. $64.95/￡45.00hbk (xii +338 pages) ISBN 0 521 55014 9 Blackwell Science, 1997. $49.50/￡29.50pbk (xi +642 pages) ISBN 0 865 42574 4.     

Haunted hypotheses

American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations and the Ghosts of Predators Past by J.A. Byers The University of Chicago Press, 1998. $70.00/￡55.95 hbk, $23.95/￡19.25 pbk (xviii+300 pages) ISBN 0 226 08698 4/0 226 08699 2.     

Wetland history

Wetlands of the American Midwest: A Historical Geography of Changing Attitudes by Hugh Prince The University of Chicago Press (University of Chicago Geography Research Papers), 1997. $21.00/￡16.75 pbk (xiii+395 pages) ISBN 0 226 68283 8.     

A model fish

Sex, Color and Mate Choice in Guppies by Anne E. Houde Princeton University Press, Monographs in Behavior and Ecology, 1997. ￡35.00/$49.50 hbk, ￡14.95/$19.95 pbk (xii +210 pages) ISBN 0 691 02790 0 / 0 691 02789 7.     

Designer snails

The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells (2nd edn) by Hans Meinhardt Springer-Verlag, 1998. DM89.00/$54.95/￡34.00 hbk (xi+236 pages) ISBN 3 540 63919 5.     

In quest of the sacred baboon: A scientist's journey

By Hans Kummer. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1995. 337 pp. ISBN 0-691-03071-9. $29.95 (cloth). © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Abstract. Canham, C.D., Cole, J.J. & Lauenroth, W.K. 2003. Models in ecosystem science. 476 pp. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. ISBN 0‐691‐09289‐3 (paperback). Price: USD $35.00.     

Ichthyological enthusiasm

Coral Reef Fishes: Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean including the Red Sea by E. Lieske and R. Myers Princeton University Press, 1996. $35.00 hbk (400 pages) ISBN 0 691 02659 9 Air-Breathing Fishes: Evolution, Diversity, and Adaptation by J.B. Graham Academic Press, 1997. $79.95 hbk (xi+299 pages) ISBN 0 12 294860 2 The Diversity of Fishes by G.S. Helfman, B.B. Collette and D.E. Facey Blackwell, 1997. ￡55.00 hbk (xii+528 pages) ISBN 0 86542 256 7.     

Calling all paleophiles

A review of Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Vol. 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates and Ungulatelike Mammals, edited by Christine M. Janis, Kathleen M. Scott and Louis L. Jacobs. London, Cambridge University Press, 1998, 691 pp. $260.00, hardbound.     

Current and projected annual direct costs of screening asymptomatic men for prostate cancer using prostate-specific antigen

BACKGROUND: Concern over the cost of screening for asymptomatic prostate cancer by means of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has played an important role in PSA screening policy. However, little is known about the true costs of current PSA screening in Canada and how costs may change in the future. METHODS: The authors performed a cost identification study from the perspective of provincial ministries of health. They used data from published reports, hospital discharge data, claims data from several provinces, a laboratory survey, a national survey of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about screening, a provincial cancer registry and expert opinion to estimate current first-year screening costs. Using demographic data from Statistics Canada and various scenarios regarding changes in screening patterns, the authors derived estimates of the future costs of PSA screening. RESULTS: In 1995 PSA screening cost an estimated $45 million (range $40 million to $84 million). Treatment accounted for over 61% of total costs, whereas screening, diagnosis and staging accounted for 35%. Screening all eligible men in Canada in 1995 would have cost $317 million (range $356 million to $691 million), more than the costs of all prostate cancer care in that year. Annual recurrent screening for all eligible men in 2005 would cost $219 million (range $208 million to $412 million). Projections from existing trends suggest that annual costs of PSA screening in 2000 are likely to increase from the estimated $45 million to approximately $66 million (range $59 million to $126 million). INTERPRETATION: PSA screening is costly, but even universal screening would consume a smaller share of national health expenditures than previous studies have suggested. Costs attributable to PSA screening may increase in the future owing to changes in utilization patterns and demographic shifts.     

Interleukin-1 α and β genes: linkage on chromosome 2 in the mouse

Two interleukin-1 polypeptides, and , are known, and cDNAs corresponding to each have been described. Genomic cloning and Southern blotting experiments suggest that in the mouse each is encoded by a gene present in one copy per haploid genome. Analysis of a panel of somatic cell hybrids carrying various mouse chromosomes on a constant Chinese hamster background indicates that both genes map to mouse chromosome 2. Further, analysis of the inheritance of DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms associated with each gene in recombinant inbred strains of mice shows the two loci to be tightly linked to one another, and to lie approximately 4.7 centimorgans distal to B2m (beta-2 microglobulin). We have named the locus encoding IL-1 Il-1 and the locus encoding IL-1 Il-1b.     

Mambu phone home

Mambu: A Melanesian millennium, by Kenelm Burridge. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1995 [reprinting of original 1960 edition with new preface]. 296pp., appendices, index. ISBN 0–691–00166–9 (paperback).     

NIH disease funding levels and burden of disease

Background

An analysis of NIH funding in 1996 found that the strongest predictor of funding, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), explained only 39% of the variance in funding. In 1998, Congress requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) evaluate priority-setting criteria for NIH funding; the IOM recommended greater consideration of disease burden. We examined whether the association between current burden and funding has changed since that time.

Methods

We analyzed public data on 2006 NIH funding for 29 common conditions. Measures of US disease burden in 2004 were obtained from the World Health Organization''s Global Burden of Disease study and national databases. We assessed the relationship between disease burden and NIH funding dollars in univariate and multivariable log-linear models that evaluated all measures of disease burden. Sensitivity analyses examined associations with future US burden, current and future measures of world disease burden, and a newly standardized NIH accounting method.

Results

In univariate and multivariable analyses, disease-specific NIH funding levels increased with burden of disease measured in DALYs (p = 0.001), which accounted for 33% of funding level variation. No other factor predicted funding in multivariable models. Conditions receiving the most funding greater than expected based on disease burden were AIDS ($2474 M), diabetes mellitus ($390 M), and perinatal conditions ($297 M). Depression ($719 M), injuries ($691 M), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ($613 M) were the most underfunded. Results were similar using estimates of future US burden, current and future world disease burden, and alternate NIH accounting methods.

Conclusions

Current levels of NIH disease-specific research funding correlate modestly with US disease burden, and correlation has not improved in the last decade.     

Proteome analysis of cold acclimation in sunflower

Cold acclimation is the phenomenon in which plants are exposed to low, but nonfreezing, temperatures before exposure to drastic temperatures. To investigate how sunflower plants adjust their metabolism during cold treatment, a comparative proteomic approach, based on spectral counting data, was adopted to identify differentially expressed proteins in leaves of freezing susceptible (Hopi) and tolerant (PI 543006 and BSD-2-691) lines after cold acclimation. In total 718, 675, and 769 proteins were confidently identified by tandem mass spectrometry in Hopi, PI 543006, and BSD-2-691 sunflower lines. Tolerant lines PI 543006 and BSD-2-691 showed the highest number of differentially expressed proteins, as 43, 72, and 168 proteins changed their expression in Hopi, PI 543006, and BSD-2-691 sunflower lines, respectively, at 95% confidence. Cold-responsive proteins were mostly involved in metabolism, protein synthesis, energy, and defense processes in all sunflower lines studied. Hierarchical clustering of all differentially expressed proteins resulted in the characterization of 14 different patterns of expression across Hopi, PI 543006, and BSD-2-691 and indicated that tolerant lines showed different proteome responses to cold acclimation.     

G691S/S904S polymorphism in the RET protooncogene of a 25-year-old medical student with bilateral pheochromocytoma

The case of a 25-year-old medical student with bilateral pheochromocytoma is described. Following diagnostic testing, tumors were surgically removed. Genetic analysis revealed that the patient is a heterozygote with the following mutations on opposite homologs: G691S (exon 11) and S904S (TCC-TCG, exon 15), suggesting the diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia 2A (MEN2A). A diagnosis of MEN2 would be an indication of thyroidectomy in this patient. Although this mutation is described in the literature, it has no known connection to pheochromocytomas. Therefore, it is unknown whether there is a causal connection between the G691S genotype and the pheochromocytomas in this patient. If so, G691S is to be added to the list of genotypes causing MEN2A. Here, the procedure of sequencing the RET protooncogene is described and a possible association between the G691S genotype and MEN2A is discussed.     

Vanadium an essential element for some marine macroalgae

In some marine algae cultivated axenically in the artificial medium ASP6 F2 (pH 8.3) vanadium at 1–100 g l^-1 increases the fresh weight. In the multicellular brown algaFucus spiralis 10 g V I^-1 enhances the fresh weight by about 400% while in the green algaEnteromorpha compressa the yield is increased by 90%. Red algae do not respond to vanadium. InFucus morphological effects are displayed in more frequent branching and/or broader blades. No significant increase in the chlorophyll content could be demonstrated at the early stage at which these morphological effects first appeared. Later the chlorophyll content increased.     

Economic Impact of a New Rapid PCR Assay for Detecting Influenza Virus in an Emergency Department and Hospitalized Patients

Seasonal influenza causes significant morbidity and mortality and has a substantial economic impact on the healthcare system. The main objective of this study was to compare the cost per patient for a rapid commercial PCR assay (Xpert^® Flu) with an in-house real-time PCR test for detecting influenza virus. Community patients with influenza like-illness attending the Emergency Department (ED) as well as hospitalized patients in the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona were included. Costs were evaluated from the perspective of the hospital considering the use of resources directly related to influenza testing and treatment. For the purpose of this study, 366 and 691 patients were tested in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The Xpert^® Flu test reduced the mean waiting time for patients in the ED by 9.1 hours and decreased the mean isolation time of hospitalized patients by 23.7 hours. This was associated with a 103€ (or about $113) reduction in the cost per patient tested in the ED and 64€ ($70) per hospitalized patient. Sensitivity analyses showed that Xpert^® Flu is likely to be cost-saving in hospitals with different contexts and prices.